The term "Metropolitan Municipality" is used officially and generically to mean a number of different types of local governments.In the
United States,
Canada, and like jurisdictions, "metropolitan municipality" can mean one or more of the following:A
consolidated city-county, for example the City and County of
San Francisco is a local government that is simultaneously a municipal corporation of a particular state, territory or province (i.e., city) and an administrative division of that state or province (which is what a county is, in the Anglophone tradition of government).A
single-tier municipality, which is a kind of cross between a consolidated city-county and an
independent city. Like an independent city, a single-tier municipality is not part of any county but interacts directly with its superior state government without going through a county. Like consolidated city-counties, single-tiers retain certain county functions that independent cities do not ; and whereas independent cities often function as seats of government for surrounding counties (especially in the Commonwealth of
Virginia), a single-tier municipality never operates as the seat of government for any jurisdiction except itself.A collective of two or more counties that are consolidated with the government of one city, the classic example being
The City of Greater New York, which is coextensive with five counties, each of which is also a distinct 'borough' of city government.A county that contains no municipal corporations and is not subdivided into townships, so that the county government provides all services normally provided by municipal governments.
Arlington County, Virginia is an example of a county that contains no cities, towns, villages, or townships (and under Virginia law, none can be established because of the population density of the county), but all services that would normally be provided by city, town, village, or township government are instead provided by the county government.
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